Two stories about medicine that trouble me.

[cassiesmom]

Quoted from Time.com article about this child: "doctors removed her uterus to prevent ... pregnancy in the event of rape".

I don't agree with some of the procedures performed on this child to accommodate her caregiving needs. The procedures have been done, so it's a moot point. We'll see what happens as she gets older as a result of exposure to high estrogen doses. But the above quote makes me the most angry, because there was a young woman in a nursing home here in the Chicago suburbs who became pregnant after she was sexually assaulted by a nursing assistant. She lacked the mental capacity to consent to sex with him, and she lacked the physical ability to resist him. The staff and parents had no idea that she was pregnant until she was sent to the hospital because of problems with her feeding tube. At that point she was 28 weeks pregnant. The child was delivered by C-section and placed with the young woman's parents. The nursing assistant was charged with a sexual assault.

To even insinuate the potential that young Ashley might be raped and consequently become pregnant makes me want to run outside and scream. The parents chose to sterilize her, in part, because they became aware that the potential for this existed. What has this world come to, that health care providers are so untrustworthy that drastic measures such as a hysterectomy on a 9-year-old are required.

[RICHARD]

To even insinuate the potential that young Ashley might be raped and consequently become pregnant makes me want to run outside and scream. The parents chose to sterilize her, in part, because they became aware that the potential for this existed. What has this world come to, that health care providers are so untrustworthy that drastic measures such as a hysterectomy on a 9-year-old are required.

Have you come over to the darkside, where I hang out?

A pretty dark thought, considering the child is cared for at home.

And the reason that I post the link.

[cassiesmom]

Have you come over to the darkside, where I hang out?

A pretty dark thought, considering the child is cared for at home.

And the reason that I post the link.

What I mean is, if Ashley's parents ever became unable to care for her and she had to be placed in a long-term care facility - or, even if something short-term happened and she wound up in the hospital. I would like to think that she would be safe from becoming a sexual assault victim in either case, and it makes me both sad and angry that I can no longer do that. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Because of medical technology, people with disabilities are living longer; so the parents found themselves in the position of having to make decisions that might not have been necessary before. It also makes me wonder what will happen in the future.